Monday, October 8, 2012

Science Trumps Ignorant Congressman

Broun

Just
when I think it’s impossible for legislators to be more ignorant, Congressman
Paul Broun (R-GA) took the plunge.

In
taped comments that supposedly were an off-the-record explanation of his
religious views, the learned lawmaker recently derided evolution as a lie from
the “pit of hell.”He insisted the
evolution and the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe are designed
to “convince people they do not need a savior.”

Of
course, news of that particularly uneducated viewpoint came about the same time
that the 2012 Nobel; Prize in Medicine has been awarded to two scholars who
revolutionized our knowledge of how cells and organisms develop.

Gurdon

Yamanaka

Englishman John B. Gurdon won his
prize by challenge the claim that specialized cells cannot be altered.In 1962, he demonstrated that cells contain
information that allows them to change from one type to another.In 2006, Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka followed up
on Gurdon’s work and discovered how to reprogram mature cells to become
immature stem cells.

Hint to Rep. Broun: the studies
work because evolution is correct.

More importantly, both scientists
achieved results by going against conventional wisdom.They didn’t accept the teachings of their
time, but researched, experimented and made important discoveries that will
help all of us.Because of them, doctors
can create stem cells from any cell, potentially providing cures for diseases
and aiding in the regeneration of damaged body parts.

That’s the point of science: the
investigation of reality; the slow, meticulous study that uncovers the secrets
of nature.

Religion?That’s the statement of some arbitrary fact
with the proviso that it can’t be investigated.It must be believed.

The
end result is the complete ignorance of a lawmaker who is running unopposed and
will have the opportunity to vote on the important issues of our day. After all, he’s a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Global warming?Just a lie.The oceans turning to acid? That’s
not how the Bible says the world would end. Overpopulation? Be fruitful and
multiple, the Bible says. What can be
clearer than that?

Broun also does not think that the
Earth is more than 9,000 years old.It
doesn’t bother him that chemical studies of artifacts prove conclusively that
humans have lived far longer than that.Nope.He’s committed to the
fundamentalist view that creation had to have occurred only a short time ago
because the Bible talks about God creating the world in six days.

Drummond (Spencer Tracy, left) and Brady (Fredric March)

That topic was addressed in the
movie Inherit the Wind, when Col.
Henry Drummond asks Col. Matthew Brady how long the days were, since the sun
and the moon weren’t created until the fourth day, according to the biblical
account.

Brady, representing
fundamentalists, is befuddled by the actual length of days without a sun or
moon. Even a few extra years would give time for dinosaurs to roam the Earth,
but Brady can’t do that.His beliefs
have been pigeon-holed into a tiny square box.

Einstein

Maybe he should have read the
writings of Albert Einstein, who also address religious questions while revolutionizing
man’s knowledge of space and time. In a letter auctioned off on eBay this week,the German-born scholar “dismissed the idea
of God as a product of human weakness" and called the Bible “a collection of honorable
but primitive legends that are nevertheless pretty childish.”

He was only perhaps the most
intelligent human who ever lived.What
does he know?

The problem is that Broun is hardly
alone.Fundamentalist legislators like him decry the failures of public
education and then do everything they can to undermine knowledge to enhance
their own beliefs.

I don’t care what Broun
believes.No one else does either.However, I do care that someone like him has
any say in the education of our children and the future of our country.

We all need to be saved from
someone like Broun.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history.He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion.His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.He can also be followed on Twitter.

You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.